Paul Harvey and the FFA

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By USAgNet/www.usagnet.com

The Rolla Daily News - Rolla, MO

By USAgNet/www.usagnet.com

Posted Feb. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By USAgNet/www.usagnet.com

Posted Feb. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM

The National FFA Foundation and National FFA Organization cooperated with RAM Trucks on the company's two-minute Super Bowl commercial honoring the American Farmer that aired during the fourth quarter of the telecast.

The ad, which features a popular speech by the late broadcaster Paul Harvey, is being supported with a cover wrap of USA Today and a significant Web presence across other electronic media.

Harvey delivered the speech at the 1978 National FFA Convention.

According to the FFA, the ad serves as a call to action for the public to celebrate 2013 as the Year of the Farmer. Individuals may do so by visiting a special Web page, viewing the positive messaging of the video and inviting others to do the same.

"RAM will contribute up to $1,000,000 to the National FFA Foundation based on the views of the video and activity on the website," the agriculture organization said in a statement after the Super Bowl. "The bulk of the new funding will be dedicated to supporting the FFA hunger initiative 'Feeding the World--Starting at Home.'"

The ad web page is not a sales site. Individuals will only be asked to view the video and recommend it to others. The link can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMpZ0TGjbWE

TEXT OF PAUL HARVEY TALKING ABOUT THE AMERICAN FARMER:

And on the 8th day God looked down on his planned paradise and said, "I need a caretaker." So, God made a farmer.

God said I need somebody to get up before dawn and milk cows and work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board. So, God made a farmer.

I need somebody with strong arms. Strong enough to rustle a calf, yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry and have to wait for lunch until his wife is done feeding and visiting with the ladies and telling them to be sure to come back real soon...and mean it. So, God made a farmer.

God said "I need somebody that can shape an ax handle, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire make a harness out of hay wire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And...who, at planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty hour week by Tuesday noon. Then, pain'n from "tractor back", put in another seventy two hours. So, God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop on mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor's place. So, God made a farmer.

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God said, "I need somebody strong enough to clear trees, heave bails and yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink combed pullets...and who will stop his mower for an hour to mend the broken leg of a meadow lark. So, God made a farmer.

It had to be somebody who'd plow deep and straight...and not cut corners. Somebody to seed and weed, feed and breed...and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk. Somebody to replenish the self feeder and then finish a hard days work with a five mile drive to church. Somebody who'd bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who'd laugh and then sigh...and then respond with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life "doing what dad does". So, God made a farmer.